League Report: Cobh Ramblers 1 - 4 Wexford Youths

Wexford Youths won their first league game of the 2015 SSE Airtricity League First Division away to Cobh Ramblers tonight on a 4-1 scoreline. A brace of goals from Danny Furlong along with a strike each from Eric Molloy and Aidan Keenan was enough to cancel out Darren Murphy’s late consolation goal to allow Shane Keegan’s team claim their first three points of the campaign.

The game was only six minutes old when Wexford opened the scoring when a corner was poorly cleared by the Cobh defence only to fall to Keenan and he dispatched it past David Browne from 12 yards. Things were to go from bad to worse for the home side on 12 minutes when a Furlong free kick rebounded out to Molloy who finished from close range to extend the visitors advantage.

They really should have trebled it on the quarter hour mark when a through ball from Andy Mulligan found Furlong but his shot from a one on one situation was well blocked by Browne. Cobh had a rare chance to pull back a goal on 20 minutes when a Stephen Kenny corner found Ronan Stanton at the back post but his shot was blocked on the line by a few Wexford defenders and cleared to safety.

The visitors were a threat from free kicks for the whole night due to Furlong’s quality deliveries and Keenan saw a header from one of them crash off the crossbar on 30 minutes.

But the pressure from Wexford was sure to result in another goal and they got their reward on 43 minutes when Shane O’Connor was disposed outside his box allowing Keenan to cross the ball to the unmarked Furlong who slotted home from inside the box. On the verge of half time O’Connor nearly atoned for his earlier mistake by smashing a 30 yard drive off the post with Graham Doyle well beaten.

The second half saw both teams have a few chances but except for former Finn Harps player Johnny Bonner cutting into the box and forcing a good save from Browne nothing was to happen for the opening thirty of the second half. Darren Murphy who tried his best in a midfield that was often over run during the game managed to pull one back on 80 minutes when his low shot from the edge of the box found the net.

But Wexford responded quickly to the concession of the goal with Keenan seeing his cross across the Cobh box not dealt with properly by O’Connor only to fall to Furlong who made no mistake from eight yards. In the aftermath of the game Cobh manager Martin Cambridge tendered his resignation to the committee and this was accepted. Cobh will now begin the process of finding a new manager before their long trip up to Finn Harps next Friday.

Cobh Ramblers: David Browne; Ross McCarthy (Graham McCarthy 39), Eoghan Murphy, Brendan Frahill (c), Shane O’Connor; Steven McCarthy, Alan O’Flynn, Darren Murphy, Stephen Kenny; Robert Waters (David Walsh 54); Ronan Stanton (Andrew Bhandarkar 60).
Subs Not Used: Steven Hickey (gk), Robert Lynch, Audi Dunlea, Jonathan Creamer.

Bookings: S O’Connor (7), G McCarthy (48), S Kenny (63), S McCarthy (67).

Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Conor Whittle, Gary Delaney, Lee Grace, Craig Comerford; Eric Molloy, Craig Wall, Johnny Bonner (Peter Higgins 84), Andy Mulligan (Philip Drohan 17); Danny Furlong, Aidan Keenan.
Subs Not Used: Seamus Houghton (gk), Craig McCabe, Jimmy Dermody, Conor English, Dean Broaders.

Booked: G Delaney (31)

Referee: Robert Hennessy (Limerick)

Attendance: 347

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Danny Furlong (Wexford Youths)